Theatre nearly in business

Press, 27 August 1980, Page 6

Theatre nearly in business

Legal procedures for the purchase of the Theatre Royal have been completed apart ffom; final, -approval from. the; .Commissioner of Inland Revenue, according to Mr C. M. Robertson, a member of the group that. initiated plans to . buy . the Christchurch theatre on-' behalf of the community. He expected the final approval any day, he said, The group wanted to be a legally constituted entity before the settlement date in September. The legal formalities had to be completed before the group could get the $lO,OOO loan offered by the Christchurch City Council and a $30,000 grant from the Lottery Board. ’ ’>' - ■ The group was' still about

$25,000 Short of the $175,000 needed to buy the theatre but it hoped to have the full amount by settlement day. “We would like it to be a fully subsidised, debt-free theatre for the community,” said Mr Robertson.

Three.. organisations had been .set up: the Theatre Royal Charitable Foundation, Ltd, would own the title to the theatre and people who had subscribed money wotild become shareholders until their money could be repaid from profits; the Theatre Royal Charitable Trust would be. responsible for running the theatre; and the Theatre Royal Trust Management c. .Board . would reorganise the . theatre’s functions and would be re-

sponsible for the refurbish'" ing programme.

Gifts from the public, totalling more than $23,000, had nearly stopped. The money would be put towards the refurbishing programme. The group would now concentrate on fundraising efforts. Events planned included charity concerts in October or November, depending on bookings for the theatre, a raffle, and a “Royalathon” auction.

Mr Robertson said he was pleased with hookings for the theatre Bookings for- more than 170 nights until November 1981, had already been received and he was confident of more bookings. A study had' shown that the break-even point was 140

nights a year. The refurbishing programme was being supervised by a Christchurch architect, Mr Miles Warren. The first steps in the programme were to clean up the front-of-house area and repaint the toilets. Mr Warren said that the main .items in the programme were to decide on a new lighting system; which could cost about $20,000, and to redecorate the dressingrooms and auditorium.-It was hoped that work would be able to start over Christmas and the .New Year.’ ’

Things such as the carpet and seats would not need replacing for some time.